The Horse Man

To Dance

Hyn sat in the corral, dozing lightly in the morning sun. A stallion sunbathed on either side of him, and horses stood around him, tails switching contentedly. Kiera had taken quite a lot of getting used to, but now she no longer bothered him. He knew she would be by soon, begging for lessons. But the sun felt like silk on his bare back, and napping with his loved ones was a most delightful way to spend a morning. The stallions were used to their new territory now, and proudly told the mares that the new place was their idea from the start.
Hyn burrowed his head into the grey neck of the stallion on his right and fell asleep again. It felt safe here.
Perhaps an hour later, the grey stallion woke him up, and rising, he saw Kiera running towards them. He lounged to his feet and sauntered into the house to find a shirt.
“Hyn! There is a amateur horse show in Havre next month! Anybody can enter it!!”
“Da’ss verr' nice.” mumbled Hyn as he pulled his shirt on.
“Can we go? Please?”
“What for?” yawned Hyn. “Why do I want to see other people’s horses when I have my own dear ones?”
“You could enter! You could enter and win a ribbon, or a trophy!!”
“If I wanted a ribbon or a trophy, I could simply buy one.”
“But that’s not the point! If you win one, then it shows that you’re the best!”
“If I already am good enough for what I want, why do I need a piece of litter to tell people whose opinion holds no value to me that I am a great rider? Let’s go ride. Maybe today you can learn to make Silvara change leads.”
“But, don’t you want to show off your horses? Wouldn’t you like to have everyone see how Ballestra can dance, or how Bellerephon can fly over fences, or how Ghazi can float along on his tiptoes?”
“No.”
Hyn walked over to the group of young stallions and slid onto the back of a little desert horse named Goshawk. Kiera pouted, but followed, and clambered up onto Silvara's back.  Together, they went through the paces that Kiera had already learned, and practiced on things that she was still rusty on.

Bliss is riding my greatest treasures, and knowing that they delight in it as much as do I, thought Hyn, warmth flooding through him at the sheer pleasure of perfect synchronization. Hawk swooped and spun, leapt and twirled. Hyn danced with him, a partner invisible yet necessary to the dance. The slightest shift in weight, the gentlest touch of heel or hand, they all made or destroyed this perfect dance, this moment of ecstasy.
Hyn had danced this dance many, many times, but it never grew old to him, never lost the incredulous thrill of doing something that should be impossible.
Hawk minced on his toes for a moment, and then sprang into the air, his hooves curled under his belly, then flying out to catch them as they floated to the ground. They whirled left, springing instantly into a canter, then reaching for the sky, so close… Hyn lifted his arms and laughed, Goshawk whinnied loudly with joy.
Coming down to earth should break one’s heart, but when you have experienced such a thing, nothing on Earth can hurt you.
Hyn slid off of the little stallion, and then noticed Kiera. She was still there, on Silvara’s back. Hyn shook his head. She was becoming part of the herd, he hardly noticed her any more. Suddenly, he tried to remember what it was like before horses were all that mattered to him. What his life was like when humans were involved in it.
“See you, Kiera, if Goshawk will dance with me and rejoice in it as I do, what need have we to compete with other people and other horses? We provide each other with everything that we need, and how should it increase our happiness to shame riders and horses who want only to be better than anyone else? Will their removal to Oblivion make our dance more perfect? Once, I went to Austria, and I met a man who danced like this with his horses. He rejoiced in their beauty, their power, the bliss of the perfect dance. He understood that to take this blissful dance and to make of it a fight to find the best stallion, the best rider, was to destroy in part the perfect joy of dancing for no other reason than to share a perfect moment with a dear friend. So he danced for crowds of people, danced with other wise men and other delighted horses, to share that joy with many people. I do not wish to share my joy, because once people share your joy, they want more of it, until you wake up one day, and you have shared until you have finished your supply, and still, nobody is satisfied. We can dance, Kiera, and be happy. We do not have to display our talents to the Great Unwashed.”
Perhaps Kiera had something else to say, but Hyn did not hear it. He rarely bothered to listen to humans. They were always babbling on about one thing or another, and it was rarely worth hearing. It is one thing to listen to someone who knows something that you would like to know, and it is another thing to listen to dogs barking at cats.